


smells like something we've forgotten (curled up, died, and now it's rotten)

by Morning_Glory_Skyes



Series: Land, Sea, and Sky [21]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Broken Hearts, Don’t copy to another site, F/F, M/M, Mild Humor, Mourning, Pining, im not sorry for this, is this crack taken seriously or actual crack i cant tell anymore, this is more hurt than comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 01:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20055808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morning_Glory_Skyes/pseuds/Morning_Glory_Skyes
Summary: It begins with two that have given up on being three.





	smells like something we've forgotten (curled up, died, and now it's rotten)

It begins with two that have given up on being three.

There's a lingering sort of despair in the castle, the heaviness that can only come with grief and loss. It's stifling, incredibly so, and Mipha does not want to deal with this in the _least_. Especially not while she's trying to figure out her own attraction to both Lady Urbosa _and_ Princess Zelda.

Okay, so she's attracted. She just has no idea how to go about doing anything with her feelings. Which is amusing, in hind-sight, now that she actually thinks about it. Mipha, Princess of the Zora, the one who managed to get her idiot teammate to admit his attraction for both the Sword Bearer and her younger brother, can't actually deal with her own possible relationship.

If anyone else finds out, Mipha will never live it down. Ever. Naturally, she just has to make sure that no one else does find out. Easier said than done, because she's like ninety percent certain Revali already knows, but still. If he tries anything, she'll just feed him his own feathers.

Sighing heavily at the thought of her own predicament, she glances out the window and down into the garden below. Teba and Muir have taken to hiding in the trees there, Muir actually bothering to wriggle up into the branches to keep Teba company despite his immense dislike of heights. They're quietly nuzzling each other's faces, bodies angled in such a way that she can't read their mouths. Mipha knows they're talking, but not what about.

Teba's expression, however, says everything. They're discussing Kass, then, which isn't surprising given that the entire incident happened only two and a half weeks ago. Not that long of a time, really, but the emotions running high have made the days feel like they've stretched on forever.

Mipha sighs again and rubs at her face, considering their options and then discarding them almost as quickly. They need to get the three to make up, not break their already ruined relationship even further. No need to beat the dead horse, so to speak. She only glances up when someone raps politely on the door frame to her bedroom, and the Zora relaxes at the sight of both Link and her brother. “I don't know what to do,” she confesses in a rush. Sidon, who had opened his mouth to speak, snaps it shut again at her words, and a vaguely defeated look crosses his expression. Link frowns deeply, slowly, and heaves a long, silent breath.

'_Neither do we,_' he signs, fingers moving quickly. It takes Mipha a moment to puzzle it out, and she definitely needs to relearn the language if it's taking her this long to understand. Sidon rubs at his face and flips his headfin over his shoulder, idly inspecting one of the many scars that crosses it.

“It's _frustrating_,” he says at last, after a long moment. “They were doing so well and then that happened.”

Link hums, idly tapping his fingers in time on the glass panes of the window. His brows are scrunched tight in thought, lips pursed and gaze focused on the tree where Muir and Teba sit. '_How the hell did the situation get so bad in the first place? They looked like they were doing fine._' His hands spasm slightly and he scowls down at the digits, a sour expression crossing over his face. '_How did we miss that?_'

Mipha slaps at her brother's hands, stopping him from actually picking the skin of the scar open, and leaps up so she can shove his headfin over his shoulder. “Stop that, you're going to make it bleed.” To Link, she adds: “I have no idea, and that's what I'm afraid of. Something obviously happened when we weren't looking, and now I'm concerned that we're accidentally going to make it worse.”

“That's a thing that can happen,” Sidon agrees, and he doesn't look very happy with his words. Mipha isn't very surprised, honestly. Her brother is the paragon of believing in others, and he's probably frustrated about how badly the situation is going. He feels helpless, and he hates it. But then again, he's probably also mad that nothing they seem to do is working. Belief and hard work, that's her brother's motto.

Link rolls his eyes at the both of them and idly taps the window again. '_They're obviously dealing with something,_' he signs at last. '_I really don't know if interfering right now is a good idea. On one hand, if we fix it, that's great. But on the other, there's a really good chance that we could make everything worse._'

“I know,” Mipha sighs out. “But I can't watch them anymore. They're mourning the loss instead of actively trying to fix it and it's just making me so mad I can't think straight anymore.”

Sidon snorts. “Mipha,” he says flatly, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes, and Mipha just knows that she's going to maul him for whatever comes next. “You've never been straight.”

The Zora princess flushes and lunges across the room, snarling when her brother dances just out of her reach. For a massive, eight-foot-tall, mostly-muscle Zora, Sidon can move like greased lightning sometimes. He ducks, slips around her hand, and picks her up, spinning her around and laughing brightly. Link, who she can barely see out of the corner of her eyes, is bent over laughing.

Bastard. She'll get them back for this. Maybe.

“This is serious,” she complains, but then sighs heavily and slumps in Sidon's grip. He puts her down, a concerned expression flickering across his face. Mipha kicks him in the knee, and he gasps loudly, flails almost dramatically, and collapses into a lump of Zora on the floor.

“I've been wounded!” he wails, and Link slides down the wall, laughing so hard there are tears running down his cheeks. If the Knight still had a working voice box, Mipha knows he'd be in the high pitched, wheezing for breath type of laughter.

Mipha rolls her eyes at the both of them and glances out the window. The tree is empty now, and probably has been for a little bit, as the leaves that had been falling are now all settled across the grass. “Damn.” She turns her gaze to the two and taps her foot idly, pursing her lips. “Stop laughing. We really should figure out what we're going to do about this situation.” Sidon's wailing cuts off immediately and he sits up, an uncharacteristically serious expression swallowing up the mirth. Link settles down on the bed, face flushed from his glee, and he drops his chin into his hands.

_(Hopefully they don't make this any worse than it is._

_Mipha doesn't know what she'd do.)_

* * *

Muir is in mourning. He knows this, knows it well, and the ache of his chest is like nothing he's ever felt. It's worse than when his mother died, worse than when he was trapped under the influence of the Calamity, worse than when he had nothing, not even his own name.

He supposes it's because Kass is still here, still on this living land, but now forever out of reach. It's not like death, where the other is gone forever. He'll always love Kass, just as much as he loves Teba, but it's clear that the feeling is no longer mutual. The last time he'd tried to talk to Kass, he'd been ignored. Then Kass had knocked him off of the tree and into the water below, before taking off and vanishing into the sky.

Well, Muir can take a hint that he's no longer wanted. Though, admittedly, that was a big enough hint that even Teba would have realized.

His chest burns, and burns, and burns, and _burns_. Gods, but he misses Kass. Their bed has been so lonely since the Rito started sleeping elsewhere, and—

Oh. Oh dear. Muir has been so caught up in his grief and anger and loss that he hasn't been paying nearly as much attention to Teba. That's not good. Muir knows full well that sometimes Teba's brain can be cruel to him.

Time to hunt the other down, then. Dealing with Kass can wait. Soothing the remainder of their shattered relationship is much more important that dealing with a Rito who can't be bothered to sit down and listen for five seconds.

Muir launches himself out of the water with a huff, splashing it everywhere in his haste. He lands lightly on the edge of the river and glances around, tilting his head to the side and sniffing the air. There's no scent of Teba and he frowns slightly, then starts a quick trot towards the gardens. The Rito's most likely there, as he's taken to nesting in the trees to soothe his ruffled feathers. Muir can approve of that sort of thing, even though he absolutely despises heights.

The gardens on the west side of the palace hold nothing, and Muir holds back a groan when he realizes he's going to have to make the trip all the way towards the eastern ones. It's a hell of a walk that he'd rather not take, and the Zora dumps himself back into the river, idly swimming upstream towards the bridge. He'll go by it, even though his nose tells him Kass is there, if only to see how the other is doing. His heart is beating a frantic tune in his throat, and Muir swallows it down, fades from view, and glides through the water as silent as a wraith.

Kass is there, there, there, just sitting on the edge of the bridge, his feet dangling just above the surface of the water. He doesn't look very sad at all, instead staring almost blankly up at the sky above the treeline, and it takes everything Muir has to not drag him down to the river's floor and _drown him._ Instead he swims by, fuming with almost unmitigated rage, and goes to search for Teba in the eastern gardens. The Zora really could use a hug right about now, preferably before he commits murder.

When Muir does find Teba, the white-feathered Rito is curled up annoyingly high in a tree, and he sighs heavily as he hauls himself out of the river. “Teba?” he calls up, watching as the warrior jumps slightly at the sound of his voice. Muir's mouth turns down in a frown. The other must be really out of it to have no heard him coming.

“Muir,” Teba says, and he sounds so tired. There are dark bags around his eyes, and he looks like he's on the verge of collapsing. Guilt sears through Muir. He's definitely been neglecting Teba. “Do you. . .want me to come down there?”

Muir scowls and shakes his head. Teba's definitely so terrified of losing Muir, too, that he's bowing over backwards for the Zora. “No. Muir will come up to Teba.” He eyes the tree for a moment and then, bracing himself, launches himself upwards and hauls himself onto the first branch. Thankfully Teba chose a tree with large, sturdy branches that are fairly close together, and it doesn't take Muir very long to reach the Rito. “Come to Muir, pretty.”

Teba makes a long, sad chirp and his eyes well up, and Muir can't stop himself from gathering the other up into a crushing hug. “Muir's sorry. Muir was so caught up in grief that Muir didn't realize we were neglecting Teba, too.” There's a choked off sob by his ear and Teba buries his face against Muir's neck, body shivering as he cries. Muir ducks his head, presses his face against a white ruff, and lets himself grieve quietly. “Muir saw Kass as we searched for you,” he begins, hesitant, because he knows this will hurt Teba, and feels the way Teba chokes off a sob and stiffens.

“Did you?” the Rito asks, and he sounds so tired, so exhausted, so sad.

Muir braces himself. “Kass didn't seem sad at all. Muir swam right below and Kass didn't notice a thing.” Teba makes a worse sound, the sound a mother makes when losing their child, and buries his face back against Muir's throat. Muir stares up at the cloudless sky and lets his thoughts wonder.

In the end, they always come back to Kass.

_(Their relationship is shattered, broken, and gone._

_Muir wonders if Kass even mourned them at all.)_

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, it's kinda been a hot year since I updated this and I'm so fucking sorry about that. I'm actually writing a book right now, and the series kind of fell to the wayside. But a lovely reviewer by the name of Ibijau screamed in my inbox and I just _had_ to write something as a thanks for their enthusiasm. So, really, blame them for this hot mess.


End file.
